Zoom Kubica needs to win to stay in contention

While Nick Heidfeld had a steady run to sixth position on the grid for the Chinese Grand Prix, qualifying was a disaster for championship hopeful Robert Kubica in the sister BMW Sauber. Kubica, struggled with the balance of his F1.08 and will start from 11th position.

Kubica is 12 points behind series leader Lewis Hamilton who claimed the pole position and seven behind Felipe Massa.

Robert Kubica
"A very disappointing qualifying! I was struggling with the balance of the car all weekend. We made some changes before qualifying, but they had a negative effect. The car was difficult to drive and I couldn’t push as I wanted. I expect a tough race because now we are not allowed to change the set-up."

Nick Heidfeld
"I think this was the best I could manage today, and I’m glad the positive trend in qualifying I had in the last three races has continued. I feel sorry for Robert. Apparently he struggled here and this grid position reduces his championship chances, but certainly we’ll never give up."

Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport Director
"That was a disappointing qualifying for Robert and the whole team, especially because he didn’t progress from Q2. Throughout the whole weekend Robert has not been happy with the balance of his car, and this did not change in qualifying. The only advantage in this situation is we can choose our own strategy for Robert tomorrow. From the team’s point of view we are relying on Nick for our chances. He did a good job in Qualifying and managed to set the seventh best time.”"

Willy Rampf, Technical Director
"The result is obviously not what we were hoping for. With Robert we were not able to bring the good result from the third free practice into qualifying, which meant he was unhappy with the balance of his car and only ended up 12th. Nick did a good job and qualified where we expected him to be."

E.A. © CAPSIS International